Rivals (Book 2 of The Warden series) Page 19

  “Would you like to tell me why you’ve been crying?”

  Once again, she considered saying something evasive, but he had lived every day with her the last eight months. He knew how much she had been missing Ethan. “I told Ethan I loved him.”

  “That sounds like something to be cheerful about, not tearful.”

  She shrugged.

  “So why aren’t you two stashed in a broom closet somewhere?”

  Cori smiled. “Aside from that not being my style… He didn’t really reciprocate his feelings for me. At least not in the way that might have led to said broom closet.”

  “That’s too bad. He does love you, though. I know that for a fact.”

  “I know.” Cori nodded with a thin smile. “But now that he isn’t going to be able to stay here and be warden, it makes things complicated.”

  “He can stay here and be warden if he wants. He just has to beat the dragon faster than you did.”

  Cori tipped her head. “I thought… he can compete? He can beat me. He can stay here and be warden!” She practically jumped at hearing this revelation. The pain in her calves kept her down to earth though. “We have to tell him. He should do it today before the judges leave.”

  “Yes, he should and he is.” Danato’s face couldn’t fully hold back the smile that he was trying to hide. “You’re kind of missing it.”

  Her eyes widened. “He’s in there now?”

  “Yes, the match just started. You might want to…” Cori ripped off her coat and threw it at Danato on her way to the gym.

  Cori sneaked inside and skirted behind the bleachers to the outskirts where Ethan had watched her compete. Ethan was in the middle of the gym, sword in hand, bare chested, pouring sweat, and breathing hard. He looked unharmed until he turned his back to her. A long red gash peeled the skin on his back. The blood had stained his jeans down to the thigh.

  He looked tired, but he was still fighting with all his might.

  She stood on the sidelines, feeling the same angst he must have felt watching her. She caught sight of Belus and he gave her a nod. She sneaked over as if library silence was necessary in a room with a screeching dragon. “Is he doing well?” She knelt on one knee to save his neck from craning to her.

  “He lost his shield but his blows are keeping it at bay.” Belus looked back at her legs. “How are you doing?”

  She looked over at him with the same stuttered shock that she’d had when he approached her before the battle. “Good, err… two slashes on the calves, a puncture on the left thigh, an irritating, long cut on my left arm, and maybe a broken rib or two,” she reported dutifully.

  Belus nodded, looking over each wound as she mentioned it, as if he were going to catalogue them in a report. When he didn’t say anything more, she found herself watching him, still waiting for that final statement. The one that would make everything okay.

  When he caught her staring, he looked back at her. “What is it?”

  She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. There was nothing she could say that wouldn’t sound needy. “Thank you.” She finally blurted something out that could be considered words.

  “You did good today, kid.” He turned away even as he said it, which was good, since the smile that fastened itself to her face would have made him roll his eyes.

  Ethan slid to a stop on his knees just after being batted by the beast. The dragon came after him again, playing the part of the cat. His paw raised in preparation for flattening him to the floor. Ethan had his back to the animal. Cori’s mouth opened to yell, “Watch out!” Belus’s hand latched onto hers.

  She shut her mouth. Ethan saw her at the sidelines. She frantically nodded to look behind him. He gave her a nod and winked.

  The paw descended onto Ethan’s back, just as his sword ejected from under his arm. The pointed sword buried between the creature’s toe pads. He groaned in pain and pulled back his paw.

  “Oh, that poor thing,” Cori said.

  Belus arch a brow at her concern.

  The crowd started to applaud and rally just as they had for her win.

  “Did he do it? Is he warden?”

  He checked the clock. “He did it in less time. That should do it.”

  Cori smiled and clapped her hands together. The crowd had already started to huddle around him. She tried to see him through the people, but she couldn’t.

  “You can go see him, Cori,” Belus said. “Go congratulate him.”

  She got up from her knees and rushed into the crowd. She couldn’t see him until she was right on top of him. He was genuflecting in the same place he had been for the final blow. He was leaning over his sword and his one knee. The gash on his back was extensive and deep, she wasn’t sure he would get away without any stitches.

  Everyone had clustered around him, but given his bloody back, no one gave him the physical cajoles they gave her. Most everyone was talking with each other about the excitement of two matches in one day.

  She stepped closer. When her feet were in view, he looked up. She put her hand to his cheek. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He took her hand and pulled her down to his knee. As soon as she was in position, sitting on his half lap, he pulled her face to his. His lips latched onto hers. His gentle kiss offered an apology for anything that might have resembled disinterest earlier.

  They came up for air only to mark the moment with a look of liberation.

  He pulled her in again, this time for a deeper, more insistent kiss. The noise of the crowd fell to a distant hum. They were the only ones in the room at that moment.

  Cori felt her heart race; the longevity of the kiss reminded her of how much more she wanted to share with Ethan. Their kissing slowed in pace, but increased in depth.

  She got the sense that the crowd had trickled away from them. She even heard a couple of distant “ahems” as Danato tried to break up their make-out session. They both ignored him. They had waited far too long to let a little thing like propriety get in their way.

  As lip-locked as they were, in the end it only took three words to separate them. “It’s a tie,” said one of the judges.

  Their hungry lips, suddenly satisfied, parted. They joined the rest of the baffled faces: Danato, Belus, and the judges.

  “What?” they both said together.

  “His written score was lower than hers. They tied,” one judge explained.

  “You’ve got to kidding me,” Ethan said. “That’s not possible. I studied forever on that.”

  “No mistake, she beat out the last four wardens on her written score,” the judge concluded with certainty

  “No freaking way.”“Hey!” Cori said, once again annoyed that no one could believe her score.

  47

  The argument on the topic of who beat whom, and how the problem should be rectified, continued back in Danato’s office. Danato had mostly stayed out of the argument. The judges bickered about the necessity of knowledge over strength and vice versa until their faces were red with anger. Not one could find an argument that satisfied rejecting one candidate or the other.

  Ethan arrived late into the meeting. As he entered, Danato gave him a nod and raised his brow in question to his injuries. Ethan nodded back. The nurses had no doubt patched up his back and given him the appropriate antibiotics. His pink shirt was back on, covering any other bruises and scratches that he might have sustained in the fight.

  Ethan looked over at the judges, who were standing in the corner of the office by the water cooler and fervently gesturing their points. He grimaced at Danato. Danato rolled his eyes back in testimony to the scene.

  Ethan sat on the second chair in front of the desk, beside Cori. She looked over at him with a half-smile. She looked concerned, but she didn’t say anything to him aloud. Her attention shifted to her thigh.

  Belus was offering first aid to her injuries. He had already stitched up the cuts on her calves. Danato was surprised to see him injecting her thigh wound with Lidocaine before st
arting his stitches. Danato was unfamiliar with any time Belus had numbed a wound prior to stitching. Either the wound was deep, or he was taking pity on Cori. A rare gift indeed.

  He watched Cori’s hand drift down off the arm of her chair to hang off to the side. Ethan’s hand did the same and they interlaced their fingers. She looked back at the judges and then to Ethan.

  “I cheated,” she said, not taking her eyes from Ethan. “Give Ethan the wardenship.”

  Danato froze along with the others and looked at her askance. The judges looked to him to answer for this. “That’s impossible, I observed the test myself. She was searched for cheat sheets prior to entering the room.”

  The judges turned to her. “It is impossible to cheat,” one judge said. “The test is twenty-eight pages. You couldn’t possibly memorize all the answers in order. Where would you get a copy of the test? We don’t keep any here.”

  “I used Cleos.” Cori looked to Danato. She knew he wouldn’t approve. “He told me what to study, what areas to focus on, so I wasn’t studying anything that wasn’t going to be on the test.”

  “He told you the answers?” Danato asked, exchanging a look with Belus. Ethan revealed no emotion to the announcement one way or another. Smart man.

  “No, he didn’t even tell me the specific questions. He just told me what areas to focus on.”

  A long pause filled the room as everyone thought about that. Danato looked to the judges and shrugged. He didn’t see that as cheating. Apparently neither did they, because they erupted into another debate.

  “That’s not cheating, that’s just a study guide,” said one judge.

  “No more cheating than a current warden offering his best knowledge to the successor. Danato could have just as easily hinted unknowingly to Ethan what areas to study harder on.”

  Danato blocked out the rest of the conversation. He was already bored with it. He knew in the end that the three judges would concede to whomever his primary choice was. After all, he had been running this prison for too damn long not to have that privilege.

  Cori leaned back in her chair. Sadness crept into her face and her shoulder sagged a little more. Ethan squeezed her hand, but she didn’t look up. He sat back with the same sad expression darkening his eyes.

  Danato admired the remarkable change in them. Neither one was arguing one way or the other. They had all but given up the fight and were resigned to whatever lay ahead. He wasn’t sure he was happy to see that, but at least they weren’t tearing each other’s heads off.

  “You two,” he said in a low tone so as to not disturb the judges. “Step outside with me.”

  Ethan slipped out the office door while Danato waited for Belus to finish his bandage on Cori’s leg. Once she was mobile, he directed her out the door. She limped out into the hallway with Ethan.

  As Danato stepped out with them, he shut the door behind them. The babbling of the judges was instantly cut off, without a murmur of sound to hint at their presence. He looked over his two potential wardens carefully.

  Ethan’s chin lifted and his hands clasped in front of him. He was prepared for whatever reaming they were about to receive. Danato had noticed over time that Ethan had become immune to his particular anger, but he’d also developed a loyal respect that was far more impressive than emotional control.

  Cori, on the other hand, slumped back into the back wall and crossed her arms. He had grown to love her as a daughter, and over the last months alone with her, that relationship had only grown. She still cowered at his angry rebukes, but their new bond made it almost impossible for him to use it against her.

  “What do you two want?” He looked between them. They exchanged a look. “This decision will be made yet tonight. What do you want?”

  “I want Ethan to stay,” Cori said.

  He looked to Ethan, who nodded. “I want to stay.”

  “Do you want to be warden, though?” Danato asked sternly. He turned his gaze on Cori. “And do you want to continue just being a worker bee?”

  Ethan looked to Cori. He silently asked that same question. She looked at Ethan. “I just want us to be together. If that means being a peon, so be it.”

  Ethan’s face shrank and he shook his head. “If this is important to you, you shouldn’t give it up. Maybe I can visit more often.”

  “No!” Cori looked away from both of them. “I don’t want to be here alone.” Even as she said it, she looked wide-eyed at Danato. “I love you and Belus, but it’s not the same without Ethan.”

  Danato smiled. “I know, sweetheart. Are you willing to give Ethan the warden position so you can be together?”

  She nodded. “Can you make that happen?”

  “I tend to get my way in the end.” He winked at her and she rushed forward to hug him in a tight embrace that she immediately retreated from in pain. She laughed at her self-punishment and instead gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “You understand, though. You are both going to be here the remainder of your lives.” They looked at him, seemingly not understanding why he was going over the same speech he had on their first meeting. “Ethan, Cori, this thing between you. I see it and I know it’s real, but this isn’t spring break. This isn’t the kind of place you want to explore your relationship to see where it goes. I strongly urge you both to consider the commitment you’re making.” When neither responded he added, “This job is forever. Your relationship needs to be forever. Or at the very least, strong enough to be right next to each other if it isn’t.”

  Cori and Ethan looked at each other a moment as if a silent conversation were taking place. Their hands crept back to each other, embracing the way their bodies couldn’t. They both turned and nodded at him.

  “Okay.” Danato nodded. He went back to the office door and they fell in line behind him. “You know,” and he turned back around so suddenly that Cori jumped, “this may take a while. There’s a bit of social maneuvering involved here. You two should really get back to the house and rest. You both look a little tired.” He smiled at them and went back into the office, closing the door behind him.

  Back inside he sat down at the desk. Belus had since taken Ethan’s chair and was watching the battle of the judges progress. Belus looked to the door and saw Ethan and Cori walk away. He looked back at Danato and grimaced. “This is all your fault, you know?”

  “What is my fault?” he asked.

  “Everything from day one leading up to this…” Belus twirled his finger in the air, “…bullshit.”

  “How is this,” Danato retorted with another finger twirl, “my fault?”

  “You were supposed to bring back one person for the warden job. One, not two.”

  Danato nodded and grimaced. “I suppose it’s too late to send one back.”

  “Yeah, little bit.”

  48

  Cori entered the house and slipped off her coat. She winced as she spread her arms. Ethan saw her just as he came in behind her. “Let me get that.” He took her coat and hung it on the coat rack along with his own. “Are you okay?”

  She hung back by the kitchen island. “I’m fine. You’re the one with a two-foot gash on your back. How are you?”

  He shrugged. “It hurts like hell.”

  “How did you get that anyway?”

  “I tried to get under his tail. He slashed me down the back with his claw. After that, I focused on the paws.”

  “I can imagine. I’m not sure why the tail hit is even an option.” They both chuckled over this thought. As the laughter waned, there was a long nervous silence between them. Cori started to say a few things, but decided she didn’t want to continue asking about the day’s fight. There were more important things to discuss. “So I suppose we should talk.”

  He took a deep breath. “Yes, I suppose so.” He didn’t say any more. “Did you have some concerns or did you just mean in general?”

  “About what Danato said. I hadn’t really considered our future together. I just know I want to be with you. That
was the furthest I got.”

  “I want to be with you too, Cori.” He took a step forward, his eyes looking hard into hers.

  She stepped back. “I just mean, taking the warden position doesn’t have to mean that we have to be together. I know that you’ve been dating and if you…” His eyes narrowed at her words. “I’m just saying that one doesn’t have to go hand in hand with the other. I don’t want you to feel obligated to spend the rest of your life with me, just because you want to take the warden job.”

  “Fuck the job!” he yelled. He looked hurt by her words. “I came here for you! I fought that dragon for you! I want you! I am in love with you!”

  She put up her hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, Ethan, I’m not negating anything that I’ve said; I love you too. I just want you to know that I had not anticipated the “until death do you part” portion of you coming back here.”

  “What are you saying?” His eyes flashed with anger and fear.

  “I’m not… I can’t believe I’m screwing this up already.” She withdrew from him, pressing her hands to her eyes despite the pain of lifting them. She took in a few breaths, trying to keep the tears out of this conversation. “Okay.” She removed her hands and came back to face him. “I can’t live without you. I have been miserable without you. Are you with me on that?”

  “I’ve been miserable too,” he said, losing the anger in his eyes, but not quite the fear.

  “Okay, when Danato mentioned the word forever in reference to our relationship?” She stepped forward. “That didn’t scare me. I just want to make sure that it didn’t scare you.” She pressed her trembling hands against her chest. “I don’t want to be your prison sentence.” Despite her efforts, her throat started to thicken with emotion.

  Instead of chastising her foolishness, or embracing her in a kiss that would defend his love, he backed away. Cori let out an uncontrollable whimper as he did. He moved to the coat rack and grabbed his coat.